APPLE OF HIS EYE

Yes, we grow whopper apples in Washington state. But the saying “apple of my eye” has nothing to do with juicy fruit. Scholars say the English idiom goes back to 9^th century English literature, when it just referred to the dark part of the eye. It was still around for Shakespeare, who dropped it into a conversation in his play Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare lived about the same time as the 1611 King James translation of the Bible, so it’s understandable that when scholars came across a similar Hebrew idiom, they used the English saying:

Deuteronomy 32:10: "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

Psalm 17:8: "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings."

Proverbs 7:2: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye."

Lamentations 2:18: "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease."

Zechariah 2:8: "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye."

Of all these, I like Psalm 17:8 the most. It reminds me that I can appeal to the God who not only created me but cherishes and protects me even more than I try to protect my eyes. Even though I may mess up and fail, He’s there to lift me up and restore me when I honestly and humbly ask for his help. 

CHERISHED
On the window ledge just above my computer, along with an engraved stone, I keep a print of an artist’s rendition of Christ praying over the world. It's a reminder of His agonized prayer at Gethsemane. I cannot look at that without tears stinging my eyes as I recall Hebrews 7:25:

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus may have returned to heaven some 2,000 years ago, but in the mystery of who He is, He is still very present and inexplicably involved in every detail of our lives—when we love on Him and adore Him, and even when we turn our backs on Him. “Apple of His eye,” and the protective shadow of God (His “wings”)—there’s no better place to be.